Full Body vs. Split Routines - Which to Choose?

[KingsOfCardio]

I squat or deadlift pretty much every workout... split up into a push/pull hit chest/delts when I squat hit back/hams/core when i pull

jeez

[BoB335]

Is it fine to include 2 leg exercises in a 3 day full body split, maybe 1 of the days I add a second leg exercise?

Add some mass and toned are goals.

I find my legs get hit well with Squats, Stiff-leg Deadlift , and even a little on the Bent Over Rows on all pro Beginner Program

[exothermic]

Question: Lets say you were a trainer & a client came to you with a 1year goal in mind & wanted to achieve optimal results within that time frame & wanted to be the most aesthetic he could within that time frame( meaning he also wants to cut to a low bf % within that timeframe & sacrifice some time spent on building mass). Would you still recommend a full body split at first?, cause ive been lifting for years & without skull crushers in my routine i can safely say my grows wont grow much, shoulders as well. So while overall the scale & your strength may show best results on a full body routine, is it really the best method to go in my scenario considering certain isolation excercises are NEEDED for certain body parts to grow to its maximum potential & thus be as proportionate as possible within that time frame given?.

[HomeWorkouts88]

One thing that I like to do is do say 3 different full body workouts. So for example, chest on Monday, you could do bench press, and then chest on Wednesday, you could do dips, and for chest on Friday, you could do incline bench press. You could do 5 sets for the major exercises like bench, and squat, and then do 3 sets of additional exercises like barbell curls, preacher curls, or concentration curls.

[DWREK72]

Nice post!!!!

[sdfhyjdfj]

Nice.

If people read stickies, we should sticky it. But we all know what happens to sticky threads...

[KRich227]

I have done both.

Last year around this time I went on a full body program, the ICF 5x5, and my strength went through the roof!, but after doing it for about 6 months I got bored of it, and also my workouts were wayyy too long(about 90 mins) and felt like the end was always dragging.

Now, i'm on Tom Mutaffis' 4 day split and I love it. It allows me to hit more of each specific body part while also hitting my accessory exercises. A big plus is the workout is much shorter but just as effective!

[dgyrfyu]

Nice.

If people read stickies, we should sticky it. But we all know what happens to sticky threads...

[ceco987]

Hey! I don't know if this is the place to ask my question but it should be. I'm sorry if it's not!
Question: I've been training before with a personal trainer to gein weight and was doing 5 day splits, constantly changing the excercises. I used to take creatine matrix back then but my blood pressure jumped up to 180/120 so I had to stop lifting for a uncertain period of time. After that I was fighting depression for several months (being a teenager is so annoying..) and now I'm back! My goal for now is to gain 10 kg ]and after that I will see what will be best. But for now should I start with a full body split, or a 4 day split (I like it most)? The last time I was in a gym was an year and a half ago and I was 10 kg bigger..

[necomanis]

Just what I needed right now

[TAWS6]

I have done both.

Last year around this time I went on a full body program, the ICF 5x5, and my strength went through the roof!, but after doing it for about 6 months I got bored of it, and also my workouts were wayyy too long(about 90 mins) and felt like the end was always dragging.

Now, i'm on Tom Mutaffis' 4 day split and I love it. It allows me to hit more of each specific body part while also hitting my accessory exercises. A big plus is the workout is much shorter but just as effective!

I really liked the Mutaffis 3-day split. I made good gains hitting each muscle group once a week. I since changed to 5/3/1 BBB 4 day upper/lower which hits each muscle group twice a week. I sure miss the recovery time I had on the last split.

[KRich227]

I really liked the Mutaffis 3-day split. I made good gains hitting each muscle group once a week. I since changed to 5/3/1 BBB 4 day upper/lower which hits each muscle group twice a week. I sure miss the recovery time I had on the last split.

Why the change? Especially since you said you were making good gains

[TAWS6]

Why the change? Especially since you said you were making good gains

I switch to strength training this time of year.

[MrCookietank]

Hey! I don't know if this is the place to ask my question but it should be. I'm sorry if it's not!
Question: I've been training before with a personal trainer to gein weight and was doing 5 day splits, constantly changing the excercises. I used to take creatine matrix back then but my blood pressure jumped up to 180/120 so I had to stop lifting for a uncertain period of time. After that I was fighting depression for several months (being a teenager is so annoying..) and now I'm back! My goal for now is to gain 10 kg ]and after that I will see what will be best. But for now should I start with a full body split, or a 4 day split (I like it most)? The last time I was in a gym was an year and a half ago and I was 10 kg bigger..

Do the full body split. Get those main 5 lifts up. Squat, Dead, Bench, OHP and Row (the first 3 are absolutely critical), you will most definitely not regret it. Eat everything in sight, not even joking, get squats in 2-3x a week, aim for something like 100kg squat 75-80kg bench and 120kg deadlift as starter goals. Those big 3 will help you pack on some weight, especially around your legs. Look up Stronglifts 5x5 or something similar

[ValwenziePark]

Full Body Routines vs. Splits

The question often arises, especially from beginners, about what type of routine to use. Your buddy told you to use a full body routine, but the muscle mags suggest a 5-day "bodybuilder" split. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot, but there is so much information out there that sorting through what to do can be difficult.

This is some of my opinion on the subject, and maybe it'll help a few people out.


Full Body Routines:

In my opinion, this is the place for a beginner to start. I have many years of lifting experience, and have pretty much always used some form of bodybuilding split routine. However, if I had it to do over again, I would have begun with a good full-body routine, built around the compound lifts, done 3 times per week. When you are a beginner you don't generally have the muscular strength to work intensely enough, or with enough volume, to require as much recovery time as someone who is stronger or more experienced. If you are a young beginner, on top of that, you have very good recovery abilities due to high hormone levels. So, because you are recovered relatively quickly after each workout, you want to stimulate each muscle group more often to induce strength and growth.

Another reason to start with a full body program is that this gives you the opportunity to learn and practice the basic lifts: squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, barbell rows, etc. Whether your goal is bodybuilding, strength athlete, sports, or just remaining fit, these really ought to form the basis of any routine. No matter what path you choose to "branch out" on later, these core lifts will serve you well.


2-Day Split Routines:

So the next question becomes: when should I think about split routines? In very simple terms, the answer is: when full body routines become too much. Usually, as you get stronger, it becomes very difficult to maintain enough energy to do squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc. all on the same day. You may also find that you want to add in a few isolation exercises to bring up your weak areas, or you may want to begin focusing more on each core lift. Another issue is recovery; as you get stronger, you are able to work out more intensely, and that means longer recovery times. So at that point, it makes sense to "split" things up by only doing a part of your previous full routine on any given day.

A logical place to make your first split is into an Upper / Lower type routine. This will have you doing your upper body work like bench press, rows, overhead pressing on 1 day, and your lower body work like squats on another day. Another way to go would be a "push/pull" type split where you do all your pulling exercises (rows, deads) on one day and your pushing exercises (squats, overhead press, bench) on another day. Exactly how you do it is up to you, but the point is to divide the workload per session. This will give you more time (and volume) per body part, and also give you a bit more recovery before you work that muscle again. Most people will typically cycle through a 2-day split like these twice per week. So instead of every muscle being stimulated 3 times per week with the full body, now it's twice per week with the 2-day split.


3+ Day Splits:

3, 4, 5 (or more!) day splits come in when you again feel the need to divide your workload to match your recovery abilities, or increase the amount of work you want to do on specific muscles or lifts. Generally, these type of splits are mostly bodybuilding related, but even strength athletes may chose to split so they can work on speed lifts one day, strength work another, etc.

At this point (speaking to bodybuilding) many lifters will only hit each muscle group once per week. This has the advantage of letting you really hammer a muscle group with a lot of weight and volume, and then give it plenty of time to recover while you're bringing the pain to the next group. Your full body effort is broken down into segments that are manageable from a workload, energy, and recovery standpoint.

If you are an "experienced" (older) lifter with decreased recovery abilities (we all ain't as young as we used to be), this type of split often is useful for staying healthy due to the increased recovery time per body part. The kids might not think it's important, but your tendons might.

There are so many variations of splits that I won't even attempt to detail all the possibilities. If you follow the advice in this post, by the time you need a multiple day split, you'll know your body, your goals, and have a pretty good idea of what you want to do.


Final Thoughts:

I believe it's a logical notion to start with a full body routine, and begin splitting only when you feel the need to increase your recovery or increase your volume. If you stick with the concept that you're trying to hit a muscle as often as you are able while still recovering adequately, and let that be your guide, you'll do okay.

Hopefully, this gives some food for thought to help you decide what type of routine you should use. Ultimately, however, it's worth saying that you can do fine with any well-designed program even if you begin with a split routine right from the beginning.



Repost from my thread in the Exercises Section...it's more applicable here.

I'm doing full body routine on my first week at the gym. I'm doing this for the whole month as what the instructor said. Maybe i'll do the split on the next month then have them alternate every week.

[imhungry4444]

I was thinking of starting a full compound workout routine. I'm gonna be starting a bulk soon and the routine I'm think of is:
Monday: lift
Tuesday: active rest
Wednesday: lift
Thursday: active rest
Friday: lift
Saturday: full rest
Sunday: core & legs

My thinking is I'm resting a little too much, if that's even possible. Right now I'm doing a full compound routine, and it's lift every day except wednesday and saturday which are full rest days, but I'm eating at a deficit so I'm just leaning out more with some muscle gain. Should I continue my current routine onto my bulk, or try out this new split that I listed above?

[ValwenziePark]

Do the full body split. Get those main 5 lifts up. Squat, Dead, Bench, OHP and Row (the first 3 are absolutely critical), you will most definitely not regret it. Eat everything in sight, not even joking, get squats in 2-3x a week, aim for something like 100kg squat 75-80kg bench and 120kg deadlift as starter goals. Those big 3 will help you pack on some weight, especially around your legs. Look up Stronglifts 5x5 or something similar

How much weight is ideal for a beginner's deadlift? Depends on the weight?

[imcca001]

Great Post. Wondering what you think of simply changing out the exercises when your recovery ability gets overly taxed. For example doing full body workouts, but alternating in some smaller exercises. Like instead of doing shoulder press one day you can do a leteral raise. Instead of doing squats every day you could do some lunges, instead of doing BB rows every day you could do some dumbell rows, curls or reverse laterals?
Thanks again for the info.

[ADLTSWM]

Full body is hard on the recovery. I perfer split routines

[Krautbrah]

Anybody know of a good full body routine that can be done 3 times a week?

[brodybanky2862]

Anybody know of a good full body routine that can be done 3 times a week?

I like IFC 5x5. But a lot of the full body routines (including SS) are 3 days a week I think.

[stcla]

Hey I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so I'm sorry if its not, but anyway I'm a beginner and i stumbled across this full body workout on bodybuilding that I plan on following called "The Ultimate Beginners Full Body Workout".It's an 8 week full-body workout program that runs for 3 days a week. My question is, after those two months what should i do? Should i continue doing full body workouts at 3 days per week? Or should i do some kind of split like a 2 day/3 day/4 day split? Also I plan on doing swimming for 20-30 mins as my cardio (im trying to gain a body similar to that of a swimmers) after my workouts each day, is that fine? I was hoping you experienced people could help me out..

[traineeh]

I just made the switch from a fullbody workout to a 4-day split and let me tell you.. the DOMS are REAL, holy **** the recovery is so much longer than just doing a 3-day full body, it blows my mind. The amount of volume really breaks down my muscle, its killer. I love it, but yeah, totally agree that full body first then move onto something with a bit more volume.

[trained123]

Because many people who utilize splits have no real idea why they are doing so. They just picked up a magazine and started with whatever program looked "cool".

hat everyone else have said, really good and informative thread.

[TAWS6]

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...44-mcd02.hydra

^^ Great article.

[skyy38]

Wish I would have read this 18 months ago when I was first starting out. I'd be at least a year ahead of where I am now...

Is there any reason why you didn't pick up some magazines about weightlifting/ body building when you first started? The internet is a cool place for info, but it still doesn't have EVERYTHING-magazines and some books are still very helpful, even if the info comes from the past, because the past is what helped shape today!

And even today, there are just some things about the Iron Sport that STILL ring true.

*The squat is the KING of all weight lifting exercises

*For endurance-less weight-more reps / For size-more weight-less reps.

* If you need to keep up the protein and drop your fat %, the good ol' "Chicken and Cabbage Diet x 5" is STILL one of the best ways to do this!
Based on a 6 oz boneless and skinless chicken breast and 1/4 of a head of cabbage, more or less, over 5 meals-THIS amounts to 1,590 calories a
day. However, since some of us are bigger or smaller, adjust this plan according to YOU! You just might wind up eating THREE chicken breasts and a WHOLE head of cabbage, per meal!
Oh yeah, if most of you muscle heads haven't done it already, please google "Cabbage" and find out WHY you need to eat MORE of this SUPERFOOD!!!

[skyy38]

Hey I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so I'm sorry if its not, but anyway I'm a beginner and i stumbled across this full body workout on bodybuilding that I plan on following called "The Ultimate Beginners Full Body Workout".It's an 8 week full-body workout program that runs for 3 days a week. My question is, after those two months what should i do? Should i continue doing full body workouts at 3 days per week? Or should i do some kind of split like a 2 day/3 day/4 day split? Also I plan on doing swimming for 20-30 mins as my cardio (im trying to gain a body similar to that of a swimmers) after my workouts each day, is that fine? I was hoping you experienced people could help me out..

After 8 weeks of 3x a week THEN switch to a 4 day split, which further refines your workout routine.

NOW,instead of full body, 3x a week,(which isn't all bad because of the recently introduced "Afterburn" principle, which stresses COMPOUND movements) You will probably do this:

Monday-Upper Body* Tuesday-Lower Body* Wednesday REST( and eat! ) Thursday-Upper Body* Friday-Lower Body.

Take SAT and SUN OFF-then repeat!

To make sure that your muscles don't " get used to the same thing , over and over " CONFUSE THEM! It ain't hard! For example:

Monday LOWER BODY-Tuesday UPPER BODY (Rest Wednesday) Thursday UPPER BODY-Friday LOWER BODY!

As for food and feeding-Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts are your NEW BEST FRIEND!!! Along with cabbage, cottage cheese, celery,spinach and everything else that is NOT PROCESSED!

This is YOUR start- I would continue, but you,as I once was...must find the REST of the answers "on your own" (with help from gym rats and etc)

Sweet Luck in your *GOALS*!

[skyy38]

Anybody know of a good full body routine that can be done 3 times a week?

Search " 4 minutes of hell" on youtube.

It seems that we have come to a point where cardio meets iron all at once! The "Afterburn Effect" is front and center on this and it's probably the most significant development in ANY sport, since the introduction of the "Flying V" , for Ski Jumpers, in the 1980 Olympics.

A big part of the Afterburn Effect is performing the new "Super Sets" which total up to 6 sets performed TOGETHER before any rest occurs.

Case in point is this ( please don't laugh ).When I saw a "Body Beast" infomercial, someone in this performed the following:

Dumb Bell Curls:

15 reps x light weight

12 reps x medium weight

8 reps x Heavy weight

NO REST!!!!!!!!!!

Now, start from the BOTTOM of the list and go back UP!

THEN you get a full 90 seconds rest, before you REPEAT this Cycle, 2 more times!

P90X and Ten Minute Trainer also fall among these lines.

Long story short: Get into the gym-halfway kill yourself in 30 minutes, using a combo of cardio and lifting, and then go home and feed the body.

[StevieMaria]

I wish I would have seen this when I first started. Even though I'm still a beginner, I'm already on a 4 day split routine. I just can't decide if I should go back to a 2 day split. I really love what I'm doing though, so I might as well stay.

Anyway, nice to see it put so concisely.

[twelveprime]

Full body is also good for people who don't have a consistent schedule. So if you're bound by work or have insufficient sleep you might only make the gym twice a week. Full body insures that all muscles were hit as apposed to a split.